The Mimic in Monsterland

Len stood outside the guildhall doors, underneath the small roof, where the guild sign was going to be hung. He looked into the sky. The rain finally let up. Len turned to the sleepy guard on duty and gave him a nod. The guard straightened up once he recognized who walked out and nodded rapidly in return.

Len sighed internally. “Go check the back door.” Len commanded the useless guard.

“Sure thing, Mr. Ainsworth. No problem at all. I’ll go right away” The guard tried his hand at a salute, sloppy and unrefined, then trekked a few paces. He turned back, “should I come back right away?”

Len felt his forehead throb for a second. “No, once you get there, you and the other guard are to do 38 push ups. Only after both of you have completed the exercise may you return.”

“Umm. Aye sir?” He walked around the building, leaving Len alone.

Talentless fool. Len scoffed, then shook his head and returned his gaze onto the street.

The sun had fallen below the horizon now, leaving a striking red crimson sky filled with a few pink clouds.

Fennel and Liam had left the guildhall not long before. However, Len didn’t talk with them today. He let Jaren train them for a while longer while he worked on some more plans and had another frustrating argument with the gnomes about the construction. “Why is getting a building built such a pain? I thought getting the adequate permissions and permits was supposed to be the hard part.”

He grabbed the small pouch of coins from his belt and fiddled with it. He tossed it in the air. It landed back in his palm. He tossed it again. Chink. Chink. Chink…

He looked at his now empty hand and snorted. “Now, Mel, you know better. That’s not for you.”

The newcomer’s Aura washed over Len, filled with fear and malice. Thoughts and images of his own demise filled his head. He watched as monsters tore his body limb from limb. Each of those body parts, swallowed by the next monstrous beast. Bit by bit, his entire being consumed. Len scratched his nose and sniffed.

Those visions fell, only to be replaced by new ones. This time he was up to his neck in a pool of blood as creatures flew around his head whispering prophecies of his despair and anguish. Len blinked and then yawned. “Enough with the tomfoolery. It didn’t work last time and it won’t work this time. Now give it back.”

Another wave of Aura crashed into him. Len found himself on the peak of a mountain in the lands surrounding Tiamantis. His old homeland. Snow whipped and whirled into his face, melting on contact. He looked off into the distance, into the nearly forgotten horizon. It was eerily similar to that day. She wouldn’t.

“Daddy?”

Flame erupted from his feet as he launched himself onto the roof of the guild’s entrance. His hand lashed out and latched down on the throat of the visitor. He slowly brought his mouth up to the bat ear as a ball of fire floated on the other side of her head. “Mel, while I’m glad to see that your skills have improved, if you don’t wish for those visions to come true with you as the focal point, then I’d suggest you knock that shit off.”

In a pained and breathless voice, Mel answered. “Sorry. My bad.”

Len released his grasp and fixed his shirt. The woman coughed a couple of times before she answered. “First Ones above, forgive a girl for having a bit of fun with her old friend.” Once she caught her breath, she looked down at her feet. “I am sorry, Len. I was a bit too excited about the new technique. It uses memories and well…yeah.”

Len grabbed the ball of fire from the air and snuffed it. He shrugged at Mel and returned to his cheery disposition. “No problem, and I apologize as well. That one hit a little too close.” Len looked back into the horizon with a blank stare. “So, how’s life, Mel?”

“The usual as you can imagine. Been trying to spice it up. Giving cooking a go. Saving a ton on not having to go to taverns and pubs all the time. And I avoid having to wear all that dreadful junk to disguise myself every time.” She squirmed for a second. “What about you? Still scheming away?”

Len smiled. “Oh, life’s too boring without a bit of scheming here and there.”

She rubbed her throat. “And I’m betting I’m involved with these schemes this time around.”

“We have a winner.” Len said smiling.

“Yay, my prize: More work.” She waved her hands in the air. “It wasn't hard to figure out after you gave me a job like that one.” Mel walked over to the edge of the roof and moved to sit down. Len stopped her before flicking his wrist and drying the roof, evaporating the water instantly. Mel and Len sat down, feet dangling. “Warm and cozy.” Mel said, wiggling her butt a little.

“Did you find anything out?” Len asked.

Mel nodded as her tone turned serious. “Affirmative, Mort’s crew have been real active of late. His boys have been putting in overtime, hitting up all his debtors to pay early. He’s hoarding wealth like a dragon. I’m not sure exactly why, but he is clearly preparing for something.”

Len nodded slowly.

“And there are too many bodies walking around the Gloom. Population’s been increasing ever so slightly after each raid. This month saw the biggest increase. Probably a whole fifty of them. They’re paying Mort in the supplies they scav from the battlefields and their own collections to get passage into the city. Not sure where the entrance is.”

Len leaned back. “So they’re going to make a play soon.”

Mel leaned back with him. “All signs point to that.”

Len exhaled. “We’re going to have another Fountain Incident on our hands.”

Mel shook her head this time. “Worse I think.”

“Have you tracked any movement from outside the city?”

“Come on Len. It’s not like I’ve been tailing them for months. We just got started. I’m only one bat, for First One’s sake. I may be good, but not that good. Give me a week.”

Len closed his eyes. “I just don’t get it. Why did they blow up the wall? What was the goal? And the Academy District, no less. All that’s going to accomplish is getting the full weight of the council bearing down. And where are they going to check first? The Gloom.” Len rubbed his eyes. “I just don’t see the advantage.”

Mel sat back up. “Who knows, it's hard to tell with Ferals. They don’t play by our rules.”

“Yeah, no one in The Forest plays by our rules, do they, Mel?”

She chuckled. “What, missing The Peaks?”

Len scoffed. “Never. All that damn cold. But you have to admit, the politics were simpler.”

“That they were.”

Len and Mel sat in silence for a while. They watched as the stars began to twinkle and dance in the sky. Mel was the only person that came to the Forest with Len when he left Tiamantis. Aside from Jaren, no one here knew of her existence. She liked it that way. Even back north, only a few knew about her. The rank and file back then made numerous myths and legends about the Black Wings of the Ainsworth Legion. Stories filled with terror flew among the fresh recruits about her. It didn’t help that she kept giving them nightmares and other terrible visions. The woman was around the same age as Jaren and a fellow connoisseur of pranks that Len trusted with his life, even if her pranks pissed him off sometimes.

Mel despised direct attention. But that made her the most useful scout he’d ever had the business of working with and calling a friend. She was a strong fighter, but not suited for raids. Her talents lay on the far tricky battlefield of espionage. And it was high time she started teaching those skills to another.

“I do have another reason I called you here tonight.”

“I told you, Len, I don’t think of you that way. It would never work.” She grinned playfully.

Len shoved her shoulder. “Oh shut it. It does involve meeting someone new, however.”

She frowned immediately. “No.”

“I haven’t even said who. Come on, Mel, I promise you’ll like her. She is a rather talented girl who’s a lot like you were back in the day.”

“And I hated myself back then. What makes you think that’s a positive selling point?” Mel asked, sitting up.

Len sat back up and grinned at her. “Because the girl in question has been sitting in my office for the last five minutes.” Len’s grin grew into a full, mischievous smile. “And you had no clue this whole time.”

The bat woman jumped off her seat. “You’re lying.” She climbed up the roof, stopping at the big window that led into Len’s office on the second floor. Len floated up to her and looked through the window.

There, a smaller hooded figure sat in Len’s chair. She wore much cleaner clothes this time, not the near rags she had previously. Her legs leaned up against his desk, smearing dirt and water on it. Len rolled his eyes. These young ones and their power poses. I swear.

He looked at Mel, who’s eyes darted around the scene, searching for something. They stopped on one of his aura candles in the corner of the room. “Ah hah. That’s it.” She scrambled up the rest of the way and got on top of the roof. Len landed next to her.

“You can’t fool me, buddy. She’s been in the room the whole time, you just masked her with that Aura flame.”

Len squinted his eyes at her. “Mel, you know me better than that. I’m not that skilled with Aura totems. And you know, I don’t play around when it comes to new talent. But I won’t lie to you, I gave her a little help getting in through the back door. You would have nailed her if she walked by us up front.”

Mel’s face twisted in annoyance and frustration. “Even so. I don’t like surprise apprentices. Or apprentices in general. That’s you and the handsome jug head's territory. Not mine.”

Don’t let Jaren hear you talk about him like that. Len sighed. “Well, either way, she is a part of your assignment now.”

Mel opened her mouth to object. Len raised his hand to stop her. “Not as an apprentice.” For now. “You’re going to trail her. She’s going to be getting assignments from me. You are going to evaluate her performance on them.” She tried to object again. “Don’t worry, they will coincide with your other duties. She is a Gloom native and a debtor of one Mortem Snels. So very much in the bounds of your other missions.”

Mel opened her mouth to speak, then stopped herself. She raised a finger, then put it down. She exhaled. “Fine, alright. But this doesn’t mean anything. She will never know I’m there.”

“Alright.” Len put his hands behind his back. “Dismissed.”

Mel saluted her leader and turned around, about to hop out into the night.

Len cleared his throat, holding his hand out. “And the coin purse, if you wouldn’t mind.”

——

Ingrid sat back in the chair of her potential employer’s office. She wanted to get the drop on him this time. She despised not having at least some advantage in these circumstances. Her break in was a breeze this time around. The two guards at the back side of the building were too busy exercising to notice her. I can’t get over how terrible this group is. Or how a different thief hasn’t already come and claimed the tools the crafters left around the place.

She was tempted to snag a few, they sold well enough to the right fence, but that was no way of treating a promising, and more importantly, wealthy employer. There was no telling how much gold the man sat on. She didn’t know much about raid wages, but she knew for a fact that it had the potential to be the best paying job in the city. All that mattered was one’s contribution. And soloing bosses must be considered as a hell of a contribution.

This was her ticket to getting out from underneath the grasp of that snake, Mort. If she saved her money right, she’d be debt free in a matter of months. Ingrid was overjoyed about the fact she was going to get to stay away from him this month on account of having the payment early for once.

She smiled. Recollections of her childhood surfaced. She ran barefoot through the grass, hopping over shrubbery and other flora. She almost heard her mother’s voice.

She shook her head. No. it's way too early for any of that. You are far from that freedom. And you have people relying on you here. She felt her face get hot in embarrassment. And then her back. Then her rear. Soon her whole body started to burn. Like really burn.

She hopped off the chair in panic and twisted around, checking herself, looking for the source of her sudden temperature increase. Once she confirmed that she was not in fact on fire, she turned back to the chair only to find a man wearing a smug grin.

“That’s for tracking mud into my office. And on my desk for that matter.” The scruffy middle aged man wiped down his desk with a cloth while he spoke.

“Good job with Fennel. Here’s the rest of your payment, as promised.”

A small coin bag wrapped in flames floated over to Ingrid. The flames extinguished, and the bag fell in her hands.

“That’s got a bit extra in it as well. An advance for your next assignment.” She opened the bag and suppressed a smile. The man put the cloth away and sat back in the chair.

“I will keep this brief, as I’m sure you're like me. Busy. I need you to keep tabs on Mort and his men. I assume you know of whom I speak. Not only that, but I need details on their comings and goings. Give me verifiable info and you’ll get higher pay. Sound good?” He plopped a journal on the table and a pen.

She nodded. She turned to leave, but then stopped herself. She had one last order of business with the man.

“I need to ask something else before I go.” The man looked up from his book. “Yes?”

“Tell me about the boy staying in Gran’s Clothes shop.”